NJ Nets rally but still fall, 103-99, to Minnesota Timberwolves

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerCourtney Lee slams home a dunk in another fruitless Nets loss on Wednesday night.The Nets had lost 26 times entering Wednesday night’s game at Izod Center, but considering the circumstances, this 103-99 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves might have been the toughest defeat of the season.

For a moment, late in the fourth quarter, as the Nets furiously battled back from an 11-point deficit, it seemed that victory — that achievement which has been so elusive for the Nets this season — was within reach.

The Nets were on a 14-4 run, the Timberwolves lead shrank to a point, and Izod Center, the soon to be former home of the soon to be former New Jersey Nets, was alive.

But this swamp known as the Meadowlands — or any place the Nets have had the poor luck of playing a basketball game this season — is no setting for storybook endings.

Not for this team. Not this season.

After placing their sneakers squarely on the throats of the Timberwolves, having trimmed their lead to 94-93 on a Keyon Dooling 3-pointer with 2:51 remaining, the Nets allowed Minnesota off the hook with two turnovers.

Courtney Lee’s 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining again edged the Nets closer to victory, 99-98. But a call originally awarding the ball to the Nets was overturned and a couple of Timberwolves role players, Corey Brewer and Damien Wilkins, scored their team’s final six points to finish off the home team.

Coach Kiki Vandeweghe began his postgame press conference by praising the effort of his players, which he said will lead to success if it continues. But soon after, he got to the heart of the matter.

“There is no other way to say it: this is a very tough loss for all of us.”

These two teams entered the night as the two worst teams in the NBA, with a combined 7-50 record. By the end of the game, the now 6-24 Timberwolves are still bad, but the 2-27 Nets are clearly worse.

The Nets offense, despite being buoyed by the return from injury of Yi Jianlian, who scored 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting, and the best game of the season from Keyon Dooling, who helped the Nets outscore Minnesota by 15 points when he was on the floor.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In the end, the Nets weren’t able to get the defensive stops necessary to overcome the Timberwolves or make the shots on offense to overcome their defensive woes.

“It’s rough because we definitely played as well as the other team did for the majority of the game,” said center Brook Lopez. “There was some miscommunication, we didn’t execute, and that cost us.”

Even with Lopez frustrated all night by the Timberwolves’ inside tandem of Al Jefferson (27 points, seven rebounds) and Kevin Love (13 points, 16 rebounds), the Nets still had a chance.

Jonny Flynn, the lightning quick rookie who sliced through the Nets defense for 17 first-half points, had been tempered in the second half by Devin Harris, who had 23 points and eight assists.

But repeatedly the Nets let their guard down, only to see the Timberwolves force the turnover, or make the basket that the Nets could not.

“You can only have so much fight before time runs out and that’s literally what it did,” said Harris.